THE I DON’T GET IT PODCAST: EPISODE 40

October 6, 2017

Episode 40: Where Have the Romantic Comedies Gone? – I will always remember seeing The Wedding Planner for the first time. I was in awe. My heart raced. My mom said I had this goo goo gaga look while watching Aladdin for the first time, but as I entered my early teen years, I had the same starry eyed gaze while watching the adult version of Disney movies…romantic comedies. As a pisces, I was destined to be a hopeless romantic and I learned early on that chick flicks satisfied a certain desire of mine.

While I want a certain level of escapism movies, I don’t find romcoms to be too far off from real life. Some people argue that those plots “never happen.” I’m not saying that it’s likely if you’re a hooker that you’re going to be picked up by the sexiest man alive and he’s going to eventually want to wife you up, but I’m saying that I strongly relate to the dating struggles Katherine Heigl has during 27 Dresses and I can totally see myself hating my ridiculously handsome husband before falling in love with him.

They don’t make romcoms, or just romance movies, like they used to. This isn’t opinion. This is straight fact. They aren’t box office hits usually and popular actors and actresses often look at them as non-challenging, fluff work. But I think the art of the romance film is so important. One, it reminds us of how amazing, tough, confusing, and important love is in our lives.

How is it that The Bachelor franchise can be so popular and do so well for ABC and “the characters” can become such figures in people’s lives, but chick flicks aren’t made anymore? It feds people’s desire to see drama and romance. Two, isn’t it important to daydream? To look forward to falling in love? Or at least to be invested in soft emotion…rather than action, which rakes in billions a year at the box office?

The “romcoms” we see today are more “realistic” and less “pretty.” Like, The Big Sick for example. I respected the love the characters had, but it didn’t make my heart soar. It didn’t have me slightly smiling to myself in the theatre. It depicted the way a lot of modern relationships begin IRL, but it wasn’t classically romantic. Maybe I just should have been born in another era.

Is the abscence of romcoms Hollywood’s way of reflecting the millennial hook up culture or is the lack of romance in the movies creating a non-romantic society?

As you can see I have a lot of thoughts, feelings, and questions on the endangered art of romance movies, so Lauren and I recorded a podcast discussing why we think they’re on the verge of extinction and reminiscing on some the greats.

P.S. Our apologies for forgetting to mention a lot of those classics, like How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days, 27 Dresses, When Harry Met Sally, Serendipity, etc. Maybe a Part 2 is needed…

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